


Tear In My Heart

by anne_fuenz



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, High School, Lilou, M/M, Unrequited Love, lilo, ziall
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-12 22:47:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4497630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anne_fuenz/pseuds/anne_fuenz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall feels like Zayn is out to get him, but he has no clue why. As high school drags on Niall starts to uncover the bad boys secrets. </p><p> </p><p>Sorry we suck at summaries, but it's going to be good we promise.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Lovelies  
> First of all shout out to Olivia and Emily for helping write the fic, they're losers and don't have an ao3 but they're helping with the fic.  
> Sorry if not everything is British, we are American so we are trying as hard as we can with the slang and such.  
> I know this is a WIP which people hate, but I promise we will update on a regular bases, we won't leave you hanging for to long.  
> Ya'll should leave comments letting us know how you're liking it and if you have any suggestions feel free to leave them. :)  
> Happy Reading!  
> P.S. This may or may not be slightly based on true events.

The first day of school has never been a pleasant experience for Niall. Ever since he's remembered, something's gone wrong, and he's just praying to anything and everything holy that nothing awful will go wrong this year. However, as his fate plays out, something does go wrong; it always does.

As Niall walks into his second period class he scans the room for any of his friends. Lucky for him he shares this class with three of his best mates. Not lucky for him they haven't arrived yet, and there's a seating chart. As he scans the chart projected on the screen, his heart nearly stops when he sees his name seated right next to Zayn’s. 

Zayn with his tattoos and smug face, Zayn that smells of cigarettes and weed, Zayn known as the hottest guy in school yet the most hated, is sitting next to poor old scrawny Niall. This wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't for the fact 9 out of 12 years, Zayn has been the one to ruin Niall's first day of school. 

In kindergarten he spilt a whole jar of glitter on Niall's head. Niall got teased by the other boys for the whole year; he never has gotten rid of the nickname Glitter. In 4th grade, Zayn claimed his mother made him bring cupcakes for his classmates for the first day, and even though Niall was skeptical, he took one. A couple hours later, he was in the bathroom regretting the decision. In 6th grade Zayn "tripped" and sent a whole tray of food at Niall, which of course hit him straight in the chest, and not only was he covered in food for the rest of the day, but the whole lunch room laughed and took pictures of the incident. Freshman year, Zayn ran into Niall in the stairwell and sent him tumbling down two flights of stairs. These "accidents" by Zayn happened time and time again and Niall was just hoping his Junior year wouldn't be ruined right off the bat. 

Niall slowly inches towards his dreaded assigned seat, hoping that maybe one of his mates would walk through the door and save him from the stingy anticipation of Zayn’s arrival. Neither Louis, Liam, nor Harry come strutting through the door of the history classroom until one minute before the bell sounds. The echoes of the bell ring through the hallways until it’s silent for a brief moment, before Niall’s class erupts in chatter about their summer vacation. His three best mates are across the room, all sitting near each other, but Niall is all alone. He’s somewhat relieved; Zayn hasn’t shown up yet, but there’s still a very good chance he’ll show up late. That’s what Zayn does almost everyday during the academic year. Zayn is known around the school, even by the staff, for being the ‘bad boy’. He has perfectly styled hair, so perfect that every person he passes in the hallway swoon and sigh as he walks by. 

Five minutes pass. Maybe Zayn wouldn’t be showing up to class today. Niall lets his shoulders relax. He can actually have a good first day at school, without any embarrassing nicknames or stories. Niall begins to trace his fingers over the carvings in the wooden desk, specifically over the heart shaped one with the initials A and D added together in the middle. One day Niall hopes to find someone that he loves; someone he loves enough to carve their initials into wood.

The teacher begin to speak, “Hello class. My name is Mr.Higgins and I will be your teacher for this year.” Mr. Higgins drones on about the timeline for each unit and whistles obnoxiously until he has everyone’s attention when it’s continuously lost. 

As Mr. Higgins hands out their homework for the unit, the door opens wide and the stench of pot slithers through the room and into Niall’s nose. Zayn. 

“Good morning Mr. Malik. Glad you decided to join us. Please take your seat next to Niall. We can talk after class about the schedule for the unit.

As I was saying,” Mr. Higgins continues, “please prepare to share your favorite part of history next class. And make it good.” Niall is trying to pay attention to instructions-- he’s got to keep up the good student persona-- but Zayn’s presence is too strong. Niall can feel him looking at his face; the bright red cheeks are probably a harsh contrast against blonde hair and blue eyes. Niall can’t help but think what Zayn could be pondering to do to him this year. Nair in his gym shampoo bottle? Saran wrap his car? Fill his locker with flies? Steal his clothes after gym? Put brown paint on his chair, suggesting he had an, um, incident? Tell his mum he’s a drug dealer? The possibilities are endless!

After a painstaking five minutes more, the bell rings, and Niall shoots up out of his seat and struggles to get his backpack onto his shoulder. 

“Oh, sorry, mate,” Zayn smirks as he lifts his chair to release Niall’s bag. Niall only stares with wide eyes before rushing through the door, never even stopping for Liam, Louis, or Harry.

\-----------

The last bell of the day rings and Niall is relieved to not have had his day ruined. He meets his mates by their lunch table like always. They seem to be waiting for him, smiling as he walks up. 

“So, Niall, what’d the bad boy do this year?” Louis teases.

“Nothing,” Niall replies blankly, knowing it’s too good to be true. He gives a quick goodbye to his pals and heads towards the parking lot; if he can get out of there fast enough, Zayn can’t pull any last minute pranks. 

Niall clicks his car unlocked from across the parking lot just as a black Mercedes sedan quickly backs up from a spot across the way. A little too quickly, because it hits the bumper of Niall’s 2000 Toyota Corolla.  
“What the fuck!” Niall yells as the car quickly shifts into gear and drives onto the street. “Come back, you twat! God damn it.”

Niall gets to the car and sees the sizeable dent left on his bumper and the scratches surrounding and continues swearing. He scans the lot and sees a kid standing against his car smoking. “Hey!” Niall calls to him. “Hey, did you see a black car hit that one?” he asks pointing to his bumper.

The boy works his shoulders from the car and stands up straight, dropping his cigarette. “Yeah. Black car.” Niall doesn’t recognize this guy, probably because he acts like no one he would ever talk to. 

“Do you know who drives it?” He pleads to the boy, who pulls out another cigarette from the pack in his back pocket. “Or what he looks like?”

The guy nods. “Mhm. Zayn. Tattoos, smokes? You know the guy?”

“Yeah. I know the guy.” Niall knows all too well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow our tumblrs at thezialllifeismylife, lioninsideofme, and passionate--pity.


	2. Project from Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall and Zayn are assigned to do a project together and Niall can't think of anything worse. To add to the mix his friends think he needs to get over his hatred for Zayn, and he still doesn't even know why Zayn hates him. Niall honestly may feel like he lives in a High School based movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Again!  
> We are trying to keep chapters coming, it's easier with three people writing but it's still effort and we are lazy people. We swear to have chapters up every couple of days but sometimes it may take a week. We promise it will never be to prolonged between updates. The story is just starting, loads more is to come but we hope you like what you read so far. Don't forget to comment and such.  
> Enjoy!
> 
> P.S. Sorry this another short chapter, longer ones will be coming when Zayn and Niall have more interactions. We are also building more Lilo so that'll be coming more into the story soon.

Niall wakes up the next morning to his phone blaring “Boyfriend” by Justin Bieber. He slides the OFF button and Justin stops singing. He can’t help but think about the fact that the song is grammatically incorrect. Niall writes a mental note to tell the Biebs that “if I was your boyfriend” should be swapped with “if I were your boyfriend,” not that he’ll ever get to him.

He pulls a shirt on and walks to the kitchen for a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. “Hi Mum,” he says as he grabs the cereal and milk. 

“Niall, what happened yesterday?” his mother inquires.

Niall turns around to his Mum sitting at the kitchen table. “What?” 

She sighs. “Niall, when were you going to tell me about your car?” Oh, that? “What did you do?”

Niall angrily pours his Cocoa Puffs and sloshes in some milk. “A guy at school backed into me.” He spoons a big portion into his mouth and sits down across from his mum. “I’ll ask him about it today.”

\------------------

Niall parks his car purposefully away from anyone else, so maybe Zayn will hit someone else instead. He clicks the LOCK button and walks away as it beeps. 

Niall’s friends are already congregated around the bench they meet at every morning. Liam sips an iced soy chai latte with his arm around his girlfriend, Sophia. Harry has stunted conversations with basically everyone who walks by. What a social butterfly. Louis is eyeing Sophia critically, like always. He’s never been too fond of her, despite the fact that she’s smart, funny, and beautiful. Louis claims she’s “just not right” for Liam. 

“Hey guys,” Niall says as he reaches the group and sets his bag on the bench beside them. They all say hi or nod in his direction. “What’s new?” 

Louis finally looks away from Sophia and drops his sneer. The conversation continues around them. “Nothing, mate,” he shrugs. “Did Zayn ever get you?”

Niall lets out a strained huff. “He hit my fucking car. Left a dent and all. Like, what a prick.” 

"Did he offer to fix it?" Louis questions back. 

"It was a hit and run, the only reason I know it was him is because some guy saw him do it, and he told me," Niall says. This gains the attention of his friends, Harry even stops flirting with a fit bird to listen to Niall’s story. 

"Maybe he did it by accident?" Sophia suggests. This earns her an eye roll from everyone in the group. Louis even calls her an idiot under his breath, but out of fairness Louis thinks everything she says is dumb for some reason or another.

The bell rings before anyone can answer Sophia. Louis, Liam, Harry and Niall all head off to their second period. Niall nervously bites his nails on his way to class. All he is hoping is that Zayn isn't there. He doesn't even know how he would confront him; what was he supposed to say? 

\-----

When Niall walks in, Zayn is already in his seat; he has a notebook out and his taking notes of what's written on the backboard, Niall has to hold back a laugh, because since when does Zayn do anything in class but annoy other people and draw in a note pad. 

Niall makes his way towards the uncomfortable plastic chair beside Zayn. He plops down his overweight backpack, but as it hits the ground, part of the strap strikes the metal table leg. A large ding echoes through the room. Only a few people look over for a second out of concern before returning to their previous conversations. Zayn glances up from copying notes onto his paper. 

Zayn’s brown eyes widen as he makes eye contact with Niall. Niall is about to ask him about the car accident that happened yesterday, but before he can confront him, Zayn lowers his eyelids so his thick, luscious eyelashes hide his eyes. He turns back to his notes and begins doodling in the corner whilst waiting for class to begin. Niall takes his seat silently, trying to avoid making another loud, distracting noise. 

There are still two minutes until the bell rings for class to start. Harry has sat and began taking notes. Louis and Liam are giggling over some stupid joke across the classroom. His mates are giving Niall a bit of space for his anger towards Zayn to diminish. People are standing in front of the white board, blocking Niall’s view from seeing the learning targets. He only has one more minute to get those notes down before history begins. Niall shoots his head to the right. There is no one sitting there yet. He sighs and bites his lip, not wanting to ask Zayn to see his notes. The desire to stay a perfect student only being the second day into school outweighs the anger towards Zayn. 

“Hey, um, could I maybe see your notes? The board is blocked and I can’t see it.” Niall is about to continue giving more excuses to see Zayn’s notes, but he gets cut off. 

Zayn smirks, “Sure thing, mate.” He passes his papers to Niall. 

Niall’s cheeks are flaming red, he clears his throat, “Thanks.”

Just as Niall is handing back the notebook to Zayn, the school bell rings. Everyone is still chatting and avoiding their seats. Mr.Higgins stands in front of the classroom with his hands on his hips. Everyone is watching Mr.Higgins wait for his directions, but he just looks at everyone disappointedly. 

Mr.Higgins whistles annoyingly. It gets everyone’s attention in seconds. “I am going to leave this room and reenter. And when I come back in, I expect everyone to be quiet, in their seats, and ready for notes.” Mr. Higgins removes himself from the room. Niall looks around to see everyone sitting and copying the notes. 

Zayn rolls his eyes and leans over to Niall, “I hear he’s like this all year.” Zayn scoffs then rests his head on his hand as Mr. Higgins reenters. 

\--------

The end of history is only ten minutes away. Niall is anxious to get out of this seat and be back with his mates. 

“Now that we are nearing the end of class,” Mr. Higgins announces to the class. “I am going to assign your first homework assignment. This is a partner project and you will be working with whomever you’re sitting next to. I will assign you a figure from history, and you will have to present everything you can find on them together within a three minute presentation.” Niall can hear the inaudible, mental sigh from every single student in the classroom. Mr. Higgins lists every partner pair and their corresponding figure. “Niall.” Mr.Higgins drones on. “You will be working with,” He pauses looking at the list in his hands. “Zayn. And the person you’ll be presenting is Winston Churchill.” 

Niall feels the burn in his ears. He will be working with his worst enemy on the first largely graded homework assignment of the year. At least Winston Churchill was a badass.

“I’ll just do all the work.” Niall says quickly in a hushed tone. 

“No, man. I can help.” 

Niall politely smiles, faking his gratefulness for not having to complete the assignment himself. “Oh, okay. Um, should we exchange numbers or, uh, how do you want to do this?” He continues to blush.

Zayn rips a corner from his notebook out and writes his number down before handing it to Niall. “Just text me when you’re free. Maybe we could meet up at the library later this week?”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” 

Niall snatches the paper from Zayn. Their hands brush against each others. Niall feels a jolt a of electricity run up his arm to his heart. He looks up to Zayn to find his cheeks tinted pink. Niall murmured a ‘thanks’ before bolting away to meet up with his mates. 

\--------

Niall approaches the bench. Upon seeing his friends, Niall starts cursing loudly, “Fucking shit, I hate that bloody twat, I can’t work on a damn project with him, he’s a cock sucker.”

Louis is of course the first to respond to Niall, he’s the only one that actually doesn’t think Zayn is a complete asshole. “Cmon Nialler, give him a chance, at least you aren’t partners with Nathaniel” 

“Tommo, why in gods name would I give him a chance? He has made it a goal since the day he met me to ruin my life.” Niall responds 

“I dont know Niall, I just have a weird feeling it was never in his intentions to hurt you or your feelings or your car. Just play nice during the project and then you can go back to hating him when you’re done.” Louis says sternly, he turns away on this note, ending the argument. 

Louis makes his way to Liam’s side, when Sophia isn’t with him he does anything he can to get Liams attention. Of course Liam doesn’t give it a second thought, thinking Louis just wants to be close, if only he knew how Louis truly felt. Maybe one day.

Niall leaves his friends after his slight argument with Louis, not feeling like being a third wheel for Louis and Liam. Honestly he just wants to know where the hell Harry is, he could use a big hug right now. Most likely he is off flirting with an attractive bird or he could be talking to some of his jock friends. Screw him and his popularity.

Niall never finds Harry, and he chooses to avoid his friends for the rest of the day, he eats lunch in the library and goes straight to his car after the final bell. 

\--------

When Niall gets home he eats his feelings, takes a quick nap, and watches tv till he feels his brain has been properly fried. He contemplates just doing the project alone but then he realizes how awful that idea is plus it’s a lot of work and he hates Zayn too much to put his name on a project that Niall did all of. He decides on texting Zayn.

Hey Zayn, It’s Niall. SENT: 9:23PM

Hi Niall, glad you texted me. :) RECEIVED: 9:24PM

Are you free tomorrow to work on the project? SENT: 9:36PM

Yeah, I have to pick my sisters up from school at 4, I’ll meet you at the library around 4:15? RECEIVED: 9:38PM

Okay see you then SENT: 9:52 PM

So then it’s settled, Niall has to work on this damned project with Zayn, tomorrow after school, in his own free time. He wants to laugh at the situation, two enemies forced to work on a project together. He honestly may talk to Mr. Higgins about a seat change after this project, he doesn’t think he can do this much longer. For now it’s one day at a time.

\-------

Niall wakes up and has the faint feeling that he had a strange dream last night. He can’t recall the specifics, but there was a boy with dark hair and a bright smile. Niall can't help but think of Zayn, but why would he have had dream of him? He wouldn't, Niall decides. Maybe it was his ex Daniel. 

Niall dated a guy in his grade last year for a couple months, but it was just too soon for both of them and a break up soon followed. They're still friends, both of them being some of the only guys out at their school.

Niall came out early last year and, even though he was scared what people would think, no one has given him a second glance about it. He wonders if Zayn thought anything of it. Why does he care?

He immediately hops in the shower to clear his mind of Zayn and having to go school and see him.

Niall gets out of the shower and gets dressed. He decides that coffee is a necessity on a day like this, so he hops in his car and drives to the Starbucks halfway between his house and school. Niall orders an iced grande hazelnut latte and drives the rest of the way to school

He pulls into the parking lot earlier than usual and he sees a black car with dark tinted windows pull up next to him immediately after. Niall hates coming out of the car at the same time as other people and awkwardly walking alongside them into school, so he opens the car door before that can ensue. But right as Niall rounds the back of his car, eyes down, a body slams into him. His latte spills all over his shirt and the dollop of whipped cream plops smackdab in the middle of his chest. After taking in the scene splayed out on his shirt, Niall looks up to see none other than Zayn Malik staring wide eyed in front of him. Niall seethes with anger that he can't hold in.

"What the fuck is your problem with me?! You always do shit like this and I don't get it! I don't get why you hate me and insist on ruining stuff for me!" Zayn tries to respond but Niall is quick to cut him off. "Just... fuck off, man."

Niall gives one last look to his soiled shirt and Zayn's stunned face before getting in his car and driving home to get a fresh shirt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See you with another chapter in a couple of days!
> 
> Follow our tumblrs at thezialllifeismylife, lioninsideofme, and passionate--pity.


	3. 4:23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall really just needs to figure out if Zayn is accidentaly or purposely trying to ruin his life. Everything goes to shit with Louis and Liam, and Harry is stuck in the middle of everything. Honestly High School is just one drama fest that Niall is stuck in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come in at you with another chapter.  
> We love reading your comments, so glad you guys are enjoying the fic so far!  
> Be on the look out for another chapter coming soon. Exciting things are brewing. 
> 
> Keep leaving comments and such!

The drive home is a blur. Niall wants to get his coffee stained shirt off as fast as he can, or it will surely stain. He speeds through school zones and runs a red light. Anxiety simmers in Niall’s chest. How is he ever going to be able to work with Zayn on his history project if Zayn keeps trying to sabotage Niall? 

Niall takes a left turn, on to the street he lives on. Radio music whispers in the background of Niall’s undying rage. His favorite song comes on, Tear in my Heart. He immediately turns up the volume from nine to twenty-three. Niall blasts the song so loud, all of his neighbors can probably hear the bass through their double-paned windows. 

Through the screaming lyrics and strong guitar, Niall hears his phone buzz. He receives a text. Niall is too upset to talk to anyone right now, so he turns the music up even louder. Now he won’t be able to hear his cell phone. Niall begins to sing along with the song. Since he was a youngster, Niall likes to pretend songs are about or written for him, so as he sings along, Niall replaces ‘she’ with ‘he’ to make the lyrics more accurate.

“He’s the tear in my heart. I’m alive. He’s the tear in my heart. I’m on fire. He’s the tear in my heart. Take me higher, than I’ve ever been.” Niall continues to sing along, until the song is over and he is in his driveway.

\-----------

Niall finally makes it back to school 25 minutes later. His anger has dwindled slightly but he definitely still wants to punch Zayn in the face. Luckily he doesn’t have any classes with Zayn today, but he has first period with Louis who he still doesn’t really want to talk to. To top it all off, he’s late to class. 

Niall arrives to class five minutes after the tardy bell rings. They have free seating yet they all sit in the same spots every day, leaving the only open spot next to Louis. Niall sits down quickly and avoids eye contact with Louis, who stares forward as well. Their chemistry teacher is explaining the process for the lab today. Niall pays little attention and assumes Louis does the same.

After Mrs. Klusman finishes introductions, she tells the class to group up to do the lab. Niall and Louis always work together, but today Niall considers joining another group. Before he can act on this thought, however, Louis speaks up.

"Niall, should I get the sulfuric acid and you get the hot pad, or what?" Niall decides to just stick with Louis; he seems tolerable. He gets the hot pad like Louis asked and they set up and start the lab with minimal speaking. Mrs. Klusman comes around around check their progress and the two barely speak to her either. 

"Good job, boys." She says and leaves them to themselves again. 

Niall eyes Louis, wanting to talk but not knowing what to say. "So, uh, how's that history project coming?" Niall asks.

Louis smirks, a good sign. "Terrible. Nathaniel won't stop telling me about how messed up England is for a second to talk about fucking Oliver Cromwell. Like, dude, don't need to hear that. He just keeps saying 'Fuck the parliament!'. Man, its brutal. Is Zayn as bad as you thought?" Louis stirs their science project as he speaks.

Niall can't help but roll his eyes. "He's worse! Fucking cocksucker." 

Louis stops stirring. "What'd he do?"

Niall huffs. "He fucking ran into me and made me spill my coffee all over myself. That's why I was late. What a dick. Now he's not even just doing it the first day but other days. What's his problem with me anyway?" He picks up where Louis left off and stirs angrily, prompting some of the mixture to spill over and sizzle on the hot surface below.

"You ever thought maybe they're accidents? Like, I'm sorry your shirt got ruined, but accidentally running into you isn't exactly malicious." 

Niall tries to consider this, but it's just too far fetched for him to believe. How would all these accidents happen to just him and only on first days, save for the one earlier today? "No, I don't think so, Louis. It just feels all too planned."

Louis takes a moment to ponder, recording data simultaneously. "Okay so the cupcakes that made you sick? Food poisoning. Accidental food poisoning. Believable. Food tray in your face? He doesn't seem like the most coordinated guy so he really could've just tripped. Really. And the car? Maybe he really just backed up too fast and didn't want to get in trouble so he drove away. Niall, it can all be explained." Louis has a good point, but Niall doesn't tell him that. He only shrugs and copies down the data from Louis' notebook.

\--------------

Niall can’t help but keep thinking about what Louis said for the rest of the school day. He spends his third period completely in another world, which probably isn’t the best thing because he really needs to get his grades up. Especially since third period is Spanish which Niall absolutely sucks at. Niall just becomes more upset and angry during Spanish because what if Louis is right, what if Zayn isn’t trying to ruin his life? Then he’s going to feel like a huge dick about treating Zayn like shit. He could just ask him but that’s a lot of work and a lot of drama. Also come on, Louis should be on his side about all this drama, they’ve been best friends since kindergarden. 

“Niall, atencion por favor. ¿Sabes que el resto de la clase esta haciendo? Probablemente no." Señora McAlister asks.

Niall snaps back to attention. "Uhhhh... lo siento... uh... ¿puedo usar el baño por favor?"

"Si, puedes. Pero rapidamente por favor." Niall nods and goes to the bathroom.

On his way to the bathroom, he looks into all the classrooms he passes, most classrooms have their doors open but other classrooms he has to just look through the small window on the door. In the classroom nearest to the bathroom, he spies Zayn in a math classroom, as the teacher lectures Zayn whispers to some girl next to him. She’s blonde with blue eyes and Niall can’t help to admire how beautiful she really is. He feels something weird seeing them whispering and laughing. Zayn actually seems like a normal, nice person with friends and that scares Niall. He’d rather think of him as a horrible, ugly human being that hates the world and everything in it, when Niall thinks about him as a nasty person he doesn’t feel so bad hating him. 

Niall quickly enters the bathroom after his short peek at Zayn and his friend. After getting to the bathroom he remembers he doesn’t actually have to go to the bathroom, he was just trying to escape Spanish, so he splashes some water on his face and exits. On his way back to class, he doesn’t look in any other classrooms, he just walks straight back to Spanish, looking only at his feet. When he returns he tries to pay attention, but it’s just so much nonsense and he has so much going on in his head. 

\---------

When Niall walks up to his lunch table he immediately regrets it. He didn’t expect much to be happening considering the fact lunch had just started four minutes ago, but it seemed everything was going to hell. What did he miss? Sophia is sitting at the table crying, she was being comforted by Daniel. On the other side of the table Liam and Louis are standing screaming at each other, Harry was in between them trying to keep peace but he was mostly there to make sure Liam didn’t swing. 

“YOU’RE HONESTLY DATING A SLUT.” Louis screams in Liam’s direction, he’s not even looking Liam in the eyes, instead he has his eyes focus on his hands. 

“YOU’RE SUCH A COCK SUCKER, SHE HAS DONE NOTHING TO YOU, NEITHER OF US HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO YOU. PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR ASS LOUIS” Liam slurs back, in the harshest tone imaginable.

Niall doesn’t even make it completely to the table, he instead turns around and walks straight to the library. He honestly doesn’t need more drama in his life. He’ll find out what they were arguing about later, Harry will probably text him later wanting to talk about it anyway. 

When Niall gets to the library he takes his normal spot in the far back corner, he unpacks his lunch and starts to read The Scarlet Letter while munching on an apple, he has English next period and he isn’t caught up with the reading that was assigned for homework. He continues reading and eating until the bell rings, ignoring all the craziness of the outside world. 

\--------------

English is the most boring class of the day. Niall has to take a short quiz on the first few chapters of The Scarlet Letter, which he definitely fails, but he promises he’ll make up for it on his next essay. After English Niall makes his way to the lunch table. He doesn’t expect to find anyone there because it seems like everyone is fighting, but he decides he will check anyway. 

As he walks up to the lunch table he sees Harry, he is looking around worried, it might be because Harry is never alone, he is always talking with friends or someone, and today it seems like no one is interested in interacting with him. Niall decides to change that. He puts on the fakest smile he can because he doesn’t want to talk about how confused and angry he is and he wants Harry to cheer up. With a big bright smile on his face he walks up to Harry.

“Hey Hazza, what’s the craic?” Niall says in an overly cheerful voice. 

“Not much. Liam and Louis got in this huge fight today.” Harry responds rather gloomy.

“That sucks. Hey, I have a question. Do you know a girl in our grade, cute, blonde hair and blue eyes, hangs around with Zayn?” Niall responds, because he doesn’t really care about Liam and Louis’ drama, he just wants to know who this mystery girl is. Honestly he doesn’t even know why he cares who she is, but he just feels so inclined to know.

“Yeah, I think you’re talking about Perrie, most people call her Pez. She’s rather nice.” Harry responses, he’s suddenly more cheerful. 

“Are they, like, dating?” Niall responds confused, because he doesn’t think Zayn has a girlfriend but he also didn’t think he had friends and obviously he must.

Harry actually bursts out laughing, he laughs so hard that he starts gasping for air. In between his laughs he chokes out,

“Ni, Zayn has been openly gay since we were in 8th grade, did that message never make it to you?”

Niall all of a sudden becomes unbearably embarrassed, and he’s pretty sure his cheeks turn a deep shade of red, he probably looks like a tomato. He honestly didn’t know Zayn was gay, how did he not know Zayn was gay, why did no one ever give him this info? Niall doesn’t even know what to say back to Harry.

“Uh... I have to go.” Niall mumbles before speed walking away. He hops in his car as quickly as he can and and blasts his music on his way home. He honestly just wants to escape from all the madness of his day. He doesn’t even remember he has a meeting with Zayn today until he pulls into his driveway

\-------

Niall tries to distract himself when he gets home; he has a good hour and a half before he has to meet Zayn at the library. He spends that time eating, doing homework and he even goes on tumblr for a bit. He is about to start getting ready for his study date when his phone goes off. 

Still meeting at 4:15? RECEIVED: 3:28

Yeah, see you then. SENT: 3:30

Niall hops in the shower. He makes it quick because he doesn’t have much time before he has to go meet Zayn. After his shower he styles his hair, slips on black skinny jeans and white tank and grabs all his history supplies. He grabs a granola bar on his way out the door because he’s honestly always hungry. 

When he gets to his car it’s already 4:12, and he might be a little late to the library because it’s about 10 minutes away, but honestly Zayn can live. He starts his car, turns down his music so he can actually think about how awkward this study session is going to be, and he is off to the library. Honestly he doesn’t even know how this is going to go. What the hell is he supposed to say to him? He should have just done the project and put Zayn’s name on it, it would be a lot less anxiety and a lot less awkwardness. Too late now, Niall thinks as he pulls into the library parking lot. He looks at the clock on his car: 4:23.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's going to happen between Zayn and Niall? Guess you will have to wait and see ;)
> 
> Follow our tumblrs at thezialllifeismylife, lioninsideofme, and passionate--pity.


	4. Brown Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a couple days to write, one of your co-writers was out of town for the weekend but we are back! Also sorry this is a shorter chapter. Thanks for all the comments and Kudos, we appreciate them more than anything. Hope you enjoy!

Niall gets out of his red Corolla. He approaches the double doors leading into the public library. As he walks in, the smell of dust and freshly printed paper fills his nostrils. Niall doesn't know where to meet Zayn in the library, so he wanders around aimless until he spots Zayn. 

Zayn is sitting in middle of the hushed library. Four books sit in front of him, only one of them open. Instead of reading, Zayn is drawing in the notebook that he uses in history. Every few seconds Zayn checks his phone to see the time. Niall is ten minutes late. 

A few minutes pass, before Niall works up the courage to walk up to Zayn. As he reaches the table, Zayn doesn't notice his presence. Niall clears his throat, prompting Zayn to look up. Their eyes meet. Niall quickly diverts his attention elsewhere. 

"Oh, hey." Zayn says in a whisper not wanting to disturb the rest of the library.

"Um, should we get started?" Niall says taking a seat across from Zayn.

"Yeah, I picked out some books already, I've heard Winston Churchill is a pretty chill guy, so we have it easier than a lot of groups," Zayn says shyly.

You may have it easier, but I have to work with you, Niall thinks, of course he'd never say this out loud. 

"Yeah, he's cool," Niall responds awkwardly. 

For most of their study session, Zayn and Niall awkwardly work around each other, reading books, taking notes, and laughing at fun facts about Winston Churchill. There is an awkward tension in the air. Niall wants to break it but he doesn't know what to say, so he doesn't. The two boys continue to flip through pages, perusing for anything about Winston Churchill. 

Zayn breaks the silence, “Hey, I think I found something. Come look at this.” Zayn stands and moves to the seat next to Niall so they’re side by side. 

Niall feels uncomfortable; there’s a pit of anxiety in his stomach. He doesn’t want Zayn near him, especially after their last confrontation. Having it end with a coffee stained shirt and cursing. Niall tries to inch away from Zayn, but he just moves closer. 

“Here. Look here. Winston Churchill wanted the Americans to win the war, so FDR invited him to America. While he was there he went skinny dipping with a shark. After the story was released the parliament attempted to create artificial shark repellents.” Zayn tells Niall with a breathy giggle near the end of the last sentence.

Niall can’t help but laugh at that ridiculous story. “Fuck the parliament man,” Niall responds trying to joke. Zayn laughs a bit more, acknowledging his humor. 

The two boys continue gathering research about Winston Churchill from his birth to death date. An hour passes by. Niall realizes he is supposed to have dinner tonight with his brother, Greg. They finish up taking their notes and bid their goodbyes. Zayn and Niall will have to finish their project another time, so they plan out to meet again on Friday.

Niall leaves to go get ready and help his mother cook dinner. 

\---------------

Greg has been gone only an hour when Niall receives a call from Liam. 

“Niall. Can I come over?” Liam’s voice is on the downs. 

“Uh, sure I guess. When?” 

Liam pulls up in Niall’s driveway. “Well, I’m here now. There are some things on my mind that I need to get off my chest. I’ll be up in your room in a minute.” Liam hangs up immediately. 

Niall is staring out his bedroom window watching Liam enter his house. He enters without knocking, making his way to Niall’s room. Niall can hear footsteps on the stairs and his door creaking open. He still stares out the window at Liams white fiat. 

“Liam.” Niall says, turning around to see one of his best mates standing at the door of his bedroom. Liam is visibly steaming with anger. “What’s wrong Liam?”

“I don’t even know where to begin, Nialler.” Liam steams in silence for a moment. “It started right before lunch the other day. Louis came up to me and he looked really distressed. So I asked him what was up and he told me that Sophia,” Liam begins to get so worked up that he can’t speak. His knuckles are turning white. After taking a deep breath, Liam begins again, “that Sophia was a slut.” 

Niall cuts him off, “Wait, what? Why would Louis say that?”

Liam sniffles a bit, “He said that Sophia was hitting on him, and trying to get with him. But, I just can’t believe Sophia would do something like that. I mean we’ve been dating for two years now. And, sure, we’ve had our fights, but we’ve always overcome them. We still bicker and disagree, but most people do in relationships.” Liam rants on, not spending any of his time to breathe. 

“Li, slow down. Take a deep breath.” Niall pauses, giving time for Liam to breathe. “Louis wouldn’t make this up. He’s your friend and he is looking out for you. Louis is probably telling the truth.” 

An audible sigh from Liam is loud enough for the house to hear. Liam knows Niall is right, but he is in love with Sophia. Liam didn’t think she would do something like that, especially after spending two years of their lives caring for each other, but he knows Louis wouldn’t lie to him. He feels hurt. 

“I guess I’ll talk to Louis, it's just going to be hard.” Liam mumbles

Niall gives him a warm smile, knowing the best thing for their friendship would be to confront each other. 

“Give it some time Li, you do need to talk to Louis but just wait a couple of days, both of you need to clear your heads.” Niall responds calmly

Liam doesn’t say anything back, just shrugs his shoulders, Niall takes it that Liam wants to end the conversation so he lets it die. Niall puts in a videogame, Mario Kart because it's Liam's favorite and he just wants him to cheer up. Mario Kart becomes competitive, Liam and Niall end up yelling at each other, sabotaging each others games and laughing quite a bit. Sometime during all this madness Liam pauses the game, suddenly becoming very serious,

“You and Zayn hung out today.” Liam says surprised, like he had completely forgotten that was a thing

“We did indeed.” Niall responses dully 

“And.. How did it go?” Liam responses eagerly

“I mean, I don’t hate him as much as I do, but the hatred is definitely still there. It was just really awkward, it was the awkward you want to escape at any chance you get, but I couldn’t because we had to do the damn project,” Niall responds annoyed, because he really didn’t want to keep bringing Zayn up.

“Alright man, glad it was okay,” Liam responses casually, and he is honestly so glad Liam understands him because if this was Louis or Harry they wouldn’t have dropped the conversation. 

Niall and Liam end up putting in a movie, they decide on the Lion King because Liam is a sucker for Disney movies and honestly it’s one of the only Disney movies Niall owns. They stay up till almost 11 watching it, they even end up spooning at one point because it’s comfortable and they’re cold. After the movie Liam has to go home, he can’t stay the night because he has a dentist appointment early the next morning. Niall walks him to the door and gives him a huge hug before he leaves, Niall buries his head into Liams chest, he really doesn’t want him to leave, but he has to let him go. 

Niall goes to sleep dreaming of brown eyes. 

\--------

Everything goes wrong for Niall Thursday morning. He spills milk from his cereal all over the table, which he then has to clean up, he gets toothpaste all over his shirt, he steps in dog poop outside his house, and he gets stuck in some major traffic on his way to school. He’s agitated and tired and he really doesn’t want to be in school, and he especially doesn’t want to be in second period, but he has to because he doesn’t want to fail. When he walks into second period he wants to walk right out because Zayns there doing Zayn things and it just makes him so angry. Niall sits down and Zayn immediately senses tension, 

“Hey dude, everything alright?” Zayn says shyly 

“Fine, don’t worry about it.” Niall responds angrily because Zayn needs to honestly fuck off. 

“If you ever need anything or want to talk or something, I’m here.” Zayn responds with a slight smile. Niall doesn’t notice the blush that creeps on Zayn's cheeks as he says this. 

Niall knows Zayn is just trying to be nice, but coming from him, it pisses Niall off. “I’m good, thanks,” he snaps. Niall immediately sees the hurt splay across Zayn’s face. He sighs. “I’m sorry, I just-- my day’s been really bad so far. I’m just a little grumpy. Sorry.” Niall buries his face in his hands. He feels a hand pat his back, tentatively at first, then more confident. 

“Hey,” Zayn whispers in Niall’s ear, “it’s fine. Like I said, I’m here.” Niall feels the hot breath leave the side of his neck and Zayn’s hand goes back to the desk between them. Niall feels an energy that had grown between them disappear, but before he can give it too much thought, he is interrupted. 

“Okay class! Welcome to another exciting day of History! I hope your projects are coming along well.” Mr. Higgins keeps talking, but Niall has zoned out. With a stolen glance, he can see that Zayn has too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little Niam action happening, also more to come with Ziall and Lilo fight.
> 
> Follow our tumblrs at thezialllifeismylife, lioninsideofme, and passionate--pity.


	5. Monumental Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> This chapter shouldn't have taken so long, we were hoping to post it sooner but we got busy. We are so sorry that we kept you guys waiting. A longer chapter will be posted very soon! We will try to not make everyone wait this long again. Keep commenting and leaving kudos.  
> Hope you enjoy!

Thursday’s classes pass and Niall is both relieved and a little upset the day is over. In the space of four days, Niall has gone from hating Zayn to tolerating him. He can’t pin down why this happened or even if it makes a difference; Zayn is still the guy who ruined his first days so many times. Niall doesn’t know if Zayn’s charm has clouded his judgement, or if he really deserves Niall’s trust.

Niall remembers late that night that he still hasn’t acted on what Louis had suggested a couple days ago: ask Zayn about all the first day incidents; maybe they really were all accidents and can  
be explained. He glances at his bedroom clock: 11:08 pm. Niall decides it’s too late to text Zayn but makes a point to ask him tomorrow when they meet up. He sighs and rolls over to click off his bedroom light, falling into a deep sleep almost immediately. 

His dreams are a blur of Winston Churchill and a Mr. Higgins’ explanation of an antitrust. Niall wonders if this is a double entendre. 

\--------

Friday is quick but painful, like a bandaid being pulled off. Niall just can’t wait to be done with the first week of school, for so many reasons. First, it means he has survived the dullest week of the school year. Second, it means the weekend. But it also means he is seeing Zayn tonight to work on their project. He knows that it’s just school work and it has to get done, no matter how much he may lament it. 

Zayn passes Niall in the hallway on his way to his car and they schedule to meet at the library again at 4:30 this time. Niall briefly talks to his friends at their lunch table before heading to his car and taking the long way home. He blasts his music and sings along wildly before he arrives at his house. 

Niall goes straight to the kitchen and makes the largest sandwich he thinks he may have ever seen and sits down in front of the TV to eat it. He flips through the channels, finding nothing but sad news stories and cartoons he used to love. He turns off the TV and quickly scarfs down the rest of his sandwich. 

He passes the next hour and some change by going on every social media site ever created, never getting interested in any of it. Finally 4:15 rolls around and Niall gets in his car and drives to the library, eager to get this over with so he can begin his weekend.

\------

Niall pulls into the parking lot at 4:29, glad he’s not late this time. He climbs out of the car and is about to click his car locked when he sees Zayn standing outside the library door. Niall thinks it’s kind of strange that Zayn isn’t just inside at a table. 

“Hey, what’s up?” Niall asks an eager-looking Zayn.

“Hey, you’re here! Have you ever been to the Winston Churchill monument in Parliament Square?” Niall shakes his head in response. “Do you want to? It’s only about an hour away.”

Niall is surprised. He would’ve thought Zayn would want to get in and out of this meetup as fast as possible, not taking a detour to downtown London. Zayn can see the confusion on Niall’s face, so he adds “I thought it would be a good thing to check out for our project, you know.”

Niall knows Zayn has a point; Mr. Higgins would be pretty impressed if they took their own time to check out historical monuments. “Alright, sure. Do you wanna drive, since you have a nicer car and all?” If he was going to do this with Zayn, he was not going to drive. 

Zayn touches the back of his neck. “Uh, actually my parents took away my car for a week. I hit someone’s car at school.” Wait, what? Did he not even know it was Niall’s? “So, yeah. We don’t have to go if you can’t drive,” he finishes sheepishly.

Niall is sort of taken aback, but agrees to drive anyway. The incentive of a good grade is too strong to pass up. 

Zayn gets in Niall’s wrapper-littered car, looking very out of place. “Sorry about the mess,” Niall mumbles. “I wasn’t expecting visitors.”

Continuing to look around, Zayn shakes his head, “No, it’s fine. My car is probably worse.” 

Niall drives out of the parking lot and heads towards the M25. He decides this is the perfect opportunity to ask about anything and everything he wants to know-- where is Zayn going to go? “Whose car did you hit?” Niall asks. He quickly realizes this is probably a strange thing to ask. “Uh, just wondering. Some people just have it coming to them, ya know?” He tries to laugh, but it’s unconvincing. 

Zayn shrugs. “I’m not sure. I felt really bad but I was also super scared what would happen if I stuck around. I should probably find out who it was so I can apologize and fix their car.” Zayn sinks down in the passenger seat, obviously meaning what he’s saying. 

Niall considers not telling Zayn it was him. Now that he knows Zayn didn’t do it on purpose, why should Niall make him hold the burden of knowing who he’d hit? But Niall decides otherwise, since this was the way into learning why Zayn had done all the other things to him.

“I’m not mad,” Niall says nonchalantly.

Zayn turns from the window to face Niall. “What would you be mad about?”

“It was me. You hit my car. I saw you. But it’s fine.” Niall keeps his eyes glued to the road, desperately trying to sound like he means what he’s saying. 

Niall can see Zayn’s face go crooked out of the corner of his eye. “Why didn’t you say anything before?” Good question, Niall thinks. Why didn’t he? There were so many opportunities for Niall to confront Zayn, but he just never felt any of them were right. Maybe what Louis said about it all being an accident got through to Niall subconsciously; why confront someone harshly, like Niall had planned, who didn’t mean to hurt anyone? Or maybe seeing this different side of Zayn-- this nice side-- made Niall think differently about everything that had happened in the past. 

“I don’t know,” Niall responds truthfully. “But now I feel bad about thinking you did it on purpose,” he says as he merges onto the M25.

“Wait, why would you think I would hit your car on purpose?” Zayn sounds beyond surprised at this notion.

Niall glances over at him quickly, gaging Zayn’s disbelief with his own sense of bewilderment. Niall can’t help but chuckle. “I mean, after all these years of you ruining my first day, I’m pretty much wired to think everything you do to me is on purpose.”

Zayn sighs, understanding. “Oh god. I thought maybe you would think I did that all on purpose.” He puts his head in his hands, mumbling through fingers. “I didn’t, though, Niall, I really didn’t. Every time, every year, I wanted to say something, to apologize, but I was scared you wouldn’t believe me, so I just didn’t say anything. I thought maybe then you’d just assume it was an accident. Obviously you didn’t. God, I’m sorry.”

Niall steels himself on the steering wheel. Was Zayn telling the truth? Could he really have accidently ruined so many first days? It seems hard to believe, but Niall trusts that Zayn’s reaction is real, and gives him the benefit of the doubt. “I get it. I believe you. It’s fine-- I mean, it’s all said and done now, right?” 

A sigh of relief escapes Zayn’s mouth. “Thank god. I thought you would hate me forever. I thought you even hated me now, to be honest.” He laughs. “Wow, was I wrong.” Niall decides to not tell Zayn that he was right-- he did hate him before now.

\------------

After another 45 minutes of driving, rocking out to Zayn’s music (which was strikingly similar to Niall’s), and laughing about how serious Mr. Higgins can get, the two arrive at the Winston Churchill monument. 

“Well, that’s a statue,” Zayn announces as they walk up to Winston Churchill's bronze doppelganger. “I imagined that this would be a lot more interesting.” Niall agrees and they laugh. They take a couple notes about how the statue looks at the houses of parliament and the significance of the fact that Churchill is included on the green along with seven other great statesmen.

“I’m ready to head back when you are,” Zayn says after the two have looked at the statue for what he feels is a sufficient amount of time-- six minutes. Niall agrees that it's been enough time and the two hop into the car. 

“Do you like Nando’s?” Niall asks. Nando's is his favorite restaurant and he remembers there is one not too far from Parliament Square. He could really use some Peri Peri chicken right now. 

“Love it,” Zayn replies. “There’s one not too far from here if I remember correctly.” He is definitely reading my mind, Niall thinks. 

They set off to Nando’s and eat like they’ve never seen food in their lives, which, to be fair, is how Niall always eats. 

“Wow am I tired now,” Zayn says as they get back into the car, happy and full of chicken.

“It’s only an hour back and then we can both start the weekend right-- by sleeping,” Niall replies.

Zayn nods and plugs in his music again, turning on a playlist Niall is sure has to be his; it’s too similar to not be. 

\--------

“Ah shit,” Niall grumbles as they reach the M25. His dash clock reads 6:07. “Rush hour, I forgot. It’s gonna be a lot longer than an hour in this shit.”

Zayn only shrugs. “I’ll live.”

They turn the music up louder to compensate, and soon Niall is solely focused on singing along and staring at the bumpers in front of him. At 6:24, as the clock tells him, Niall hears the familiar sound of drumsticks beating together, followed by the beginning of one of his favorite songs.

“SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA BLEED TO KNOW, THAT YOU’RE ALIVE AND HAVE A SOUL,” Niall shouts along. “I love this song!” He announces to Zayn. Niall glances over to his passenger seat, expecting Zayn to be jamming along, only to see him with his eyes closed, curled in a ball. Niall turns down the music. “Hey, are you asleep?” No response. “Well I guess that’s a yes. Wow, he really was tired.”

Niall can’t help but draw a parallel between the potholes he’s serving around and the words Twenty One Pilots is singing. “Fuck Parliament,” Niall laughs to himself.

He drives the rest of the way with the music turned down low, just loud enough for him to hear, but not enough to wake Zayn.


	6. Bubble Tea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry we haven't updated in forever. I know you probably hate us. We are going to update more often. We promise. Don't forget to leave kudos and comments.

Chapter 6

Niall gets off the M25 and turns onto a main road, then remembers that he has a sleeping Zayn in his passenger seat. “Hey, Zayn. Zayn, wake up,” Niall urges. Zayn doesn’t flinch. “Zayn! Wake up!” Niall shouts this time, but Zayn is still unfazed. “Zayn! Wake the hell up!” Niall shouts, smacking Zayn in the chest with an arm.

“Uff!” Zayn wakes with a jolt. “Whoa was I asleep?”

Niall laughs awkwardly. “Yeah, for like two hours.”

“Oh, sorry mate. Being in a car just makes me sleepy sometimes,” Zayn replies, somewhat apologetically.

Niall keeps his eyes focused on the road. “Should I drop you off at the library or your house?” He wants to know where as if it would make the car drive faster. Zayn is getting on his nerves.

The roar of driving on the M25 is dimming down as the two boys exit onto residential streets. “At my house would be great. I live on 137th Avenue North.” 

Niall diverts his attention from the road momentarily to look at Zayn surprised. “You live just around the corner from me.” He starts to veer off the road, not paying attention to the street ahead of him and Zayn. 

“Woah. Eyes on the road, bro,” Zayn says quickly before Niall swerves to avoid hitting a parked car. He changes the subject to make sure Niall doesn’t think he is backseat driving. “That’s funny. I feel like we don’t see each other that often. How far do you live from me?” Zayn makes conversation.

Niall pulls up the house Zayn points to. “A couple blocks away, apparently.” Zayn opens the door and puts a leg out. 

“Well, see you later,” Zayn says over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, see you Monday,” Niall replies and makes a u-ey, turning back onto the street that leads him home.

\------------

“Hey, Mum, I’m home!” Niall announces as he walks in the door. 

“Niall! You’re home! I put your plate in the fridge because you weren’t here. Where were you, by the way?” His mum inquires from the living room.

“Oh, I was working on a school project and it took longer than expected. We had Nando’s. Sorry, I forgot to tell you it was going to take longer,” Niall says as he walks towards his room.  
He closes the door and flops on his bed. He sighs and pulls out his phone; there’s only one person Niall wants to talk to after a long day: Liam.

Niall texts Liam: Hey, are you free? Can I come over?

Liam texts back lighting fast; Yeah, come over! I need advice about Louis.

Niall grabs his keys and heads out the door, yelling a goodbye to his mum as he runs out the door.

\------------

Niall pulls up to Liam’s house 13 minutes later, and enters without knocking. “Hello, family!” Niall calls as he comes into the house; he’s over here so often that he now refers to Liam’s family as his own-- they basically are.

“Hey, Niall,” Liam’s dad says from the kitchen. “Liam’s in his room.”

“Thanks!” Niall says as he climbs the stairs to Liam’s room. “What’s up?” He says as he plops onto Liam’s open bed. Liam sits across the room at his desk, spinning in his chair. 

Liam huffs through pursed lips. “Louis and I are still fighting. I don’t know what to say to him any more, Ni. Like, what does he even want from me?” Liam drops onto the mattress next to Niall, sighing deeply. 

They both stare at the ceiling for a long while before Niall responds. “I don’t know. Maybe you should talk it out with him?” Niall suggests. 

“Louis would tear my throat out, he’s so mad for some reason. I don’t think I could last five minutes with him.”

Niall considers this, an idea coming to mind. “Hey, how about you invite him over and talk, and I’ll mediate. You guys can’t rip each others’ heads off if I’m here. Hopefully.”

Liam sits up to look off into the distance, debating about whether that would be a good idea or not. He looks to Niall, slightly pouting, “I’m not so sure. This fight really blew up.”

“Come on, mate. Just shoot Louis a text. If he responds then you guys can talk it out, if not then there’s a little more time to let the feels settle down,” Niall compromises.

“The feels?” Liam chuckles.

Niall smiles knowing he would make fun of his lingo. “Yes, the feels.” Niall sits up to join Liam, somewhat staring off into the distance, thinking about the right thing to do. “Just send Louis a text. He doesn’t bite,” Niall urges him to attempt in making up with Louis. 

A quiet grunt is breathed out of Liam’s mouth. Liam only does that when he knows Niall is right but doesn’t want to admit to it. Thirty seconds later, Liam sends a text to Louis.

Liam: Hey, are you free right now? I was hoping we could talk. sent 9:58

The two boys plop their backs back down onto Liam’s uncomfortably soft mattress. Niall scrolls a little bit through his phone, staying updated on social media. Liam turns on some music using his bluetooth speaker. They lay there in each other’s company lazily rocking out to some throwback songs. Liam checks his phone every two minutes. No reply from Louis. After four songs Niall is about to speak up, maybe Louis went to bed. But, just as he is about to let the words escape his mouth, Liam’s phone buzzes. The two boys sit up to give his phone their full attention. 

Louis: I guess. Your house in ten minutes? received 10:14

Liam: Sure. Niall is here too. He says he’ll mediate. sent 10:15

Louis: Sounds good. See you soon. received 10:18

Liam coyly smiles at Niall. You can tell he’s a bit nervous about how his Friday night will play out. Niall rubs Liam’s back, letting him know that he is here for him no matter the outcome. 

Eighteen minutes later there are two knocks on the door, but before the boys go to answer it, Louis lets himself into Liam’s house. Louis removes his shoes and places the next to the front door. 

“We’re in here!” Niall calls. Liam shoots him a worried look, to which Niall responds with a look that says “be cool.”

Louis enters the room tentatively, as if he’s never been there before. “Hey,” he says aloofly, taking a seat across the room on Liam’s desk chair. Niall can tell he is avoiding eye contact at all costs; Louis looks at anything but the other boys. 

Niall realizes niether Liam nor Louis particularly wants to have this conversation, so he’s got to be the one to start it. “Okay so, Louis, obviously you have a problem with Sophia--”

Louis cuts Niall off, “Damn right I have a problem with her! I knew she was never right for you. I never knew why, until she gave me a reason, and it all made sense. One time at lunch all of you guys were at meetings or out or whatever and-- this bitch-- she starts hitting on me!” Liam is obviously shaken by Louis’s words.

Niall waits for either of them to say anything more, but they don’t. “I think Liam is mostly upset with the way you told him.” Liam nods in agreement.

“She hit on me and you’re worried about how I told you?” Louis scoffs. “She ruined your relationship and you’re mad at me. For telling you. I’m getting the cold shoulder for being a good friend. That’s what’s happening right now, Liam.”

Liam sighs. “It was just so sudden,” he mumbles. “I didn’t know what to think of you… screaming at me… that my girlfriend was a slut… and…,” Liam just shakes his head instead of continuing.

Niall steps in to try to finish off Liam’s thought. “I think what he’s trying to say is that he wishes it would have gone differently.” Liam agrees again. 

Louis considers this notion before responding. Niall can see his face get softer and his words lighter. “I was just so mad, man. And I couldn’t let her get to you first and try to tell you it was me or try to save her ass when there’s no saving. I couldn’t let her keep hurting you and pretend she didn’t.” Louis looks Liam in the eye for the first time, but then looks away quickly.

“But why would she do that?” Liam asks himself more than anyone else.

Niall rubs Liam’s back. “People are different than they seem sometimes, Li.” 

Liam puts his head in his hands. “But we were together for two years. Why now?” Louis and Niall have no answer for him. There’s a long period of silence before Liam speaks again. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you, Tommo.”

Louis finally comes over to the bed the other two sit on. “I’m sorry I told you like that. It was pretty shitty of me.” Niall moves his arm off of Liam’s back and Louis takes over, putting his arms around Liam and hugging tight.

“Oh, Louis. I’ve missed your hugs.” Liam says softly as the two boys continue to embrace.

Niall feels a bit awkward so he bear hugs both of them into one group hug. After a few moments they all release to lay down on the bed, facing towards the plain white ceiling. 

“I’m glad you two aren’t fighting anymore.” Niall speaks quietly, trying not to ruin the moment.

A chuckle comes from Louis. “Yeah we used to fight all the time when we were younger, but we haven’t had a fight like this in a long time.” 

Liam smiles at Louis, and laughs remembering some of the petty arguments they’ve had. “We’ve been friends for a long time now, Louis. That’s insane,” Liam reminds Louis before returning to stare at the ceiling. 

Niall phone buzzes. 

Incoming text message from Zayn. 

“Great.” Niall mumbles under his breath.

Liam sits up, flashing Niall a concerning look. “What’s wrong Ni?”

Niall picks up his phone and shows it to Liam and Louis. Zayn is texting me now.

Louis joins Liam, sitting up, staring at Niall. “He could just have a question about the project. Since you know, you two are partners.” Louis says. Niall scoffs a little at his comment. Louis speaks again, “Or, you know maybe he just wants to be friends with you.”

Niall let’s out a hearty laugh. “Doubt it, mate.” His phone vibrates again. “Seriously, he isn’t giving up.”

Text message from Zayn: Hey, I was thinking we could grab bubble tea next time we study. You in? sent 9:49

Liam and Louis read Zayn’s text to Niall. 

“Say yes!” Liam shrieks. “He’s one of the hottest guys in the school, you can’t say no.” 

Louis punches Liam in his arm, “Hey.”

“I mean, we’re all pretty smoking hot.” Liam retorts flirtily at Louis.

“I don’t know, guys. He’s been a real asshole to me since, like, forever.” Niall tells the two boys while throwing his phone on the bed trying not to think about Zayn.

Liam grabs Niall’s phone.

Text message to Zayn: Yeah, I’d love to. I know a great place nearby. Is 8 tomorrow a good time? sent 9:54

Niall tries to pry his phone out of Liam’s hand, but the text message is sent before he can stop it. Niall falls back on the bed burying his face in the sheets. 

Text message from Zayn: Sure! Can’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lilo is better or are they?


End file.
